> Gloranthan politics are primarily ritual.
I completely disagree. Gloranthan politics is about organizing factions of supporters, who may support you in a ritual fashion. Or they may support you in war. Or simply in administration.
> Gloranthan politics are display. Display of sacred power, sacred knowledge.
> Display of conspicuous wealth and magical energy.
Displays of physical power, also. "Gee, looks like you've got 3/4 of the clan standing on your side of the moot. I guess we'll do it your way." Don't forget that sending warriors to whoop at a tribal moot is part of the fun (see King of Dragon Pass). Sure, they are performing Orlanth's whooping war dance, so it's ritual in one sense. But the true sense is: our clan's got lots of muscle, and we're not afraid to use it.
> Gloranthan politics, though secular in effect, can never be considered apart
> from their ritual, mythic and cosmogenic purposes. Outcomes are planned for
> their mythic outcomes, seldom for power, wealth or authority for its own
> sake.
Wrong (at least from having played in a politically oriented game). See the writeups for either Taming of Dragon Pass (particularly Kerenath's Saga) or the Dawn Age game. Kerenath became chief of the Varmandi essentially because of disagreements over how to run the clan and deal with the Lunars. He had no mythic outcome in mind.
> Gloranthan politics, working to mythic imperatives, are often consciously
> self-defeating or self destructive from a secular viewpoint.
Maybe in cultures other than the Heortlings.
> Politics is the art of choosing the right ritual.
This is somewhat true.
But I think it's more a case of "ritual is the continuation of politics by magical means." By conducting the right ritual, you cement your political position.
To take another example from King of Dragon Pass, the object of the game is not to perform some mighty ritual to eliminate the Horse-Spawn menace. It's to make a political union with the Feathered Horse Queen.
David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_pensee.com> Glorantha/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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